The curl of her lip hits me in my chest. Where it pulled tight a few minutes before, it now floods with warmth.
“Because I look like a street walker? Try doubling that and you can go on my wait list for a hand job.” She gives him a butter-wouldn’t-melt smile. “Although, I have to warn you, there’s little chance you’ll reach the top before I finish school and then you’re shit out of luck.”
I smile at her sass, filing the information away in case it comes in handy later. A working girl, someone who might be amenable to suggestions. The proximity could work against me, but it might also be worth it to control the narrative more closely than I’ve managed with my overseas compatriots.
If this girl takes requests.
If she’ll do anything after tonight.
“Well, we won’t pay you now. Not with that attitude.”
The ringleader slides off his seat to stand in front of her, crowding her, towering above her. He grips her chin in his hand, the fingers digging in so hard it’ll leave bruises. He wrenches her to face him, smirking at her discomfort.
His friend moves out from the bar, circling around to close in behind her. With his left hand, he takes her hair, curling his hand around until it becomes a leash. His right lands on her shoulder, sliding down to tease at the edge of her throat.
Fuck, yes.
Now this… this is a party.
At the door, tight t-shirt is stroking himself through his jeans, smile broadening until his white teeth flash. “That dress looks like it’s too warm for you,” he calls out, winking to the friend standing in front of her. The boy obliges, reaching out to roll up its lower hem until it sits on her hips.
Her face is calm, impassive, but her eyes dart around the room, flickering away to the side, to the ground, over her shoulder. Trying and finding no help.
My conscience flashes again but it’s weak.
She’s fine. They’re not even touching her, not really. If she wanted help she could scream. I’ll intervene… just give it another minute. Maybe two.
“You want to suck me off while my friend fucks you?” the boy in front asks with the studious attention such a serious request demands. “Or you want to take it in turns so you can give each of us your full attention like a good little whore?”
Her left hand flashes to the side, grabbing something from the counter, then she falls to her right, hair tearing loose from the restraining hand, rolling over and scrambling to her feet like some kind of whizz at parkour.
It takes a second for me to work out what she’s holding. Only registering when I see the glint of metal, then I bolt from my seat, running for the door, my spell broken.
Fuck.
It’s the knife for peeling off the seals on the liquor bottles. Not big, not flashy, but my dad keeps it sharp.
I plunge down the stairs, praying I’ll make it in time.
CHAPTERTHREE
ROSA
The blade looks laughably tiny,even clutched in my miniature hand. A fiddly little knife for performing fiddly little chores.
Not much of a weapon to hold off three attackers. The bourbon I scoffed earlier clouds my head, even with the surfeit of adrenaline now pumping through my body.
All I wanted was to get drunk at a party, eat far too much junk food, and go home, complaining all the way about Finley’s bad relationship timing and why couldn’t she keep dating someone with a nice roomy car?
Now I’d kill for my feet to be blistering from walking too far in heels.
These three fuckwits who appear to think I’m part and parcel of the free entertainment on offer have officially ruined my night. A thrill of fear shudders through me, morphing into indignation, into anger. Who gave them the fucking right?
One stab wound each would transfer this lingering pull of trepidation from me to them, the place it rightly belongs.
A nice scar to remind them not to gang up on a girl. A wound just bad enough so they’re the ones triggered into an anxiety attack when all they wanted was a few shots of free booze.
“We don’t want any trouble,” the boy nearest the door says. Like it wasn’ttroublingthat he stationed himself in front of it to make it impossible for me to leave. “Just put down the knife and we can all go back to the party.”
